The Monarch

Chapter 15

For the next few hours after the King closed down the Arena, he spent most of his time calming the public. There were many mixed opinions about what the people saw earlier. However, the King tried to silence all of them nonetheless. I did not see him for a few hours, as I was locked in a castle dungeon.

The dungeon cell was small and cold. It was barely the size of a closet and reached about as tall as an under stair storage room. The cell was also as cold as a harsh winter's night, with only a small blanket to protect me from the cold.

The guards that protected me while restricting my freedom were named Tom and Bill. They were simple men that didn't speak much, and I only knew their name through a single conversation they had as I was being locked into the cell. Tom and Bill wore blue padded chainmail armor, and each carried a spear with them. Both spears were very sharp but had a tint of rust near where the blade connected with the shaft. While the guards were there to prevent me from escaping, I highly doubted their skill in combat exceeded my own.

"Tom," I whispered, trying to grab the guard's attention. Tom ignored me as he continued to stare blankly at the wall in front of him. Annoyed, I turned to the other guard and attempted the same communication. This went on for a few more minutes, with the same results each time. Eventually, though, the pair of guards got annoyed and lashed out at me.

"Stay quiet, prisoner!" They ordered me, ending the conversation. Defeated, I returned to my cell. As I sat down, I heard a clapping sound from across the hallway.

"Quite splendid!" I heard King Arthur cheer. He was the one that was clapping. After a few moments, his frame appeared from behind bars. The two guards both saluted, then returned to their duties. The King, annoyed by the guards' behavior, ordered them to open the jail door. The guards' did so reluctantly, even if they were required to.

"King Arthur?" I stuttered as the King walked into the cell, "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to chat," The King explained, "It is nothing to worry over. I was quite impressed with your performance during the fight earlier today. I was expecting a surprise, but not one that powerful. If you would not mind, could we talk about your abilities for a few moments?"

"My abilities?" I asked. The King nodded.

"I would like to know exactly how, where, and why you got them," The King explained, "I would also like to know if you were born with them or if you acquired them recently."

"You want to know everything?" I asked. The King nodded. I turned my eyes toward the guards. The King took a moment to understand my hidden message before he sent them both away, "And I'll get out of here if I tell you?"

"Whether you tell me or not doesn't change your status here," The King sighed, "I would just like to know. However, if you tell me, I'll extend the opportunity to serve directly under me again and fight the threat you found two weeks ago."

"Amadeus?" I asked. The King shrugged.

"If that is the name of the one who cursed the southern forests, then yes. I want your help in protecting the Kingdom if necessary," The King answered, "If you do that, I would gladly like to bring you out of here."

"I understand," I sighed. Then, I told everything the King needed to know about my abilities. He seemed excited and hung onto every word of mine. I left out everything about the ritual to gain this ability and said I didn't remember anything about it. When I was finished, the King sat in silence. His breath was taken away, and his eyes were wide with shock.

"Simply incredible," The King smiled, "So the cause of your power didn't occur at birth? Would one be able to learn this power?"

I shook my head, "Bal's the one that decides if you're worthy or not. If you don't pass his test, I'm afraid I have no idea what would happen to you."

The King nodded again, understanding. Then he stood and looked me in the eyes.

"Well, Vercotti. I will keep true to my word and release you from here," He said, "The mob will be quite mad, as they wanted you in here to begin with, but it's a worthy cost for a powerful ally. If you would, please follow me."

"Yes, your majesty," I said, standing up to follow him.

The room he brought me to looked almost exactly like the throne room, except that it was significantly smaller and had a giant table in the center instead of a throne near the end. Inside the room, there were already nearly twenty people gathered around the large oval table.

A few of them looked familiar. I recognized Alistair, near the head of the oval table, immediately. Near the other head, toward what seemed to be the bottom of the table, was a group of four individuals with familiar faces. Before I was given a chance to recognize who they were, the King walked to the head of the table and started the meeting.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for gathering here so quickly," The King started, "As some of you are aware, a threat is growing from the southern backyard of our Kingdom. This threat has already proved to be powerful and ultra-effective against wildlife. This young ranger here," The King waved his hand to me, "Willliam Vercotti was the one who discovered the threat not two weeks ago. This threat, which my scholars have recognized as the 'fruit's embrace' curse, turns our plants and wildlife against us in a very violent way. We have already found several woodland giants that have turned hostile and left their territories, much like the one defeated at the Arena today. I want your help to defeat this threat, find the one responsible for it, and bring an end to them."

"Do we know who caused this?" An older man asked. He wore a military uniform with nearly two dozen medals pinned to its breast: a military general, no doubt.

The King nodded to the General's question, "We believe a culprit is a man named Amadeus."

"Hmm," The General replied, "I'm not entirely sure who that it, though the name does sound familiar,"

"Amadeus is several thousand years old," The King said, then looked at me, "As I've been told."

The room was full of confused and frightened gasps. When they finally died down, a voice started to speak from the other side of the table. The speaker was female, with a tight purple dress and black hair. She looked very familiar.

"Amadeus the deadly," They said, "he's a magical being from legend. A demon capable of possessing the will and bodies of others."

Gasps filled the room once again. The woman looked at me, a concerned look on her face.

"Are you sure he called himself Amadeus?" the woman asked. I nodded.

"That description seems worthy of the amount of power that came from his actions. I wouldn't be surprised if we're talking about the same person," I answered. The room filled with gasps again, and the woman sighed. She took a deep breath, then looked at the King.

"Demons are unkillable. We don't stand a chance against this being," The woman said.

"Yes, well," The King said, "Our ranger here seemed to escape just fine."

"Purely by luck," The woman said, "No mortal can do that normally. Unless," the woman took a pause, "Are you the one who defeated the woodland giant in the arena this morning?"

The entire room looked at me, their eyes wide open. The King sighed, covering his face with his palm.

"Yes, I am," I answered, "What of it?"

The entire stared at me in silence before the King was the next one to speak.

"Yes," The King said, cutting the room's silence, "This boy did defeat the woodland giant in the Arena. As many of you have heard, it was a battle between two woodland giants, not a woodland giant and a human. William Vercotti, here, is a druid,"

I looked at the King in surprise. He nodded at me, signaling me to remove my hood and gloves. I did as he ordered, but reluctantly. The room gasped further as they saw my green complexion, antlers, and rooted hands.

"While William here wasn't born a druid, he still shares some of their abilities. Most notably, the ability to turn his body into a woodland giant, as some of you have seen already. William's abilities come from Bal, a woodland deity residing in the Baone woods north of here," The King explained, "Because he wasn't born a druid, he was not raised by them either. Fear not; he does not share their ideas or practices."

"Then how is he like that!" A noble yelled out, "He must've done some dark ritual to gain that power!"

"I lived with the elves in Ithilia," I told the noble, somewhat mad, "They did this for me."

"Nonetheless," The King said, "William is an ally. If this curse spreads across the land, it may take over woodland giants as well. It already has shown the ability to. We must stop this evil and whoever is causing it as fast as possible."

The table sat in silence for a moment. Then, a noble stood and placed his weapon on the table. Then, he quickly walked out of the room. Two others did the same before the King spoke.

"Three left us, huh?" The King sighed, "The Kingdom will remember this. Now, for the ones who have returned. Please, summon your most capable fighters."

Two weeks passed, and a state of emergency was declared in the Kingdom. The roots that had threatened the Kingdom from the southern side had proved too much for normal soldiers and adventurers to deal with. Eventually, they recalled all citizens that lived south of the capital into refugee camps located either within the capital city or just outside of it.

The King himself took refuge during these two weeks as he summoned the nation's vast military and the nation's rangers into one place. It didn't take long for scholars to arrive as well, carrying vital information about the curse 'fruit's embrace' and several weaknesses that were caused in experimentation.

Rose was among the ones summoned, but she seemed distracted. I never saw her without Josh's petrified heart. Each time I saw her, it pained me to think there was currently nothing I could do to help her. I hadn't seen Snow for weeks either. She seemed to be spending more time with Rose than me, but she continued to grow in size. Soon, she would be able to fight side by side with some of the strongest soldiers.

Constantin, of course, remained missing. I was beginning to suspect that Rose was hiding something about him.

It was just after this that the King started approaching me with questions. Most of them were about my woodland giant form and more details on how I acquired it. My answers were all the same. Then he spent almost a week having the scholars study it. I fought in different ways for their studies, stood in weird poses, and tested my physical limits while inside my woodland giant form.

Eventually, I found it easier to move while inside the body than before. Suddenly it was possible to use my roots even while inside the body. My scream could control the nearby plant life and react to my will. It also appeared that my woodland giant form looked considerably different than a normal woodland giant. A woodland giant only resembled a human, but its face, nails, and thinness were very different. However, my woodland giant form appeared to be different. The nails were more defined, as were the outlines in my stomach. I didn't appear thin or deformed near the stomach and chest, as some woodland giant's appeared. While woodland giants didn't have distinctive muscles, it appeared that I did. The roots acted as muscle fibers, but their color was even darker than other woodland giants. Unlike normal woodland giants, it appeared that I had hair in the form of moss.

My face, however, did not resemble a human. If anything, it looked like a human skeleton.

As the experiments on my body continued, so did the progress of discovering a weakness against the black mist that took over plants. The curse's name was Fruits Embrace, named after the roots that would surround any plant that was in its area. The scholars that were hired under the King soon discovered several weaknesses and strengths that the curse had.

It appeared that the curse was completely inactive during nighttime but would thrive uncontrollably during the day. This meant that any creatures that it controlled would freeze at night. Holy water and light magic appeared effective as well, but nobody knew why. Fruits' embrace didn't show any weaknesses to holy magics before. Now that it did, it confused the scholars but gave it a deeper understanding of its origin.

They also didn't waste their chance to ask me where it came from. I answered them in every way possible. Their reactions seemed shocked and confused, as if they knew something.

"That would explain the effects holy water has on the curse," One scholar said to another. He then turned to me and nodded, "Thank you for your cooperation, young ranger."

So, we spent the next few weeks testing out everything else that may harm the curse. However, the scholars soon discovered nothing.

And so, the experiments continued for about a week after the emergency was called until Rose approached me one night at the inn. She had Snow with her, who looked at me disapproving.

"It's been three weeks," she said, tears coming to her eyes, "You promised you would find a body! What's so hard about it!"

"A body?" I stuttered before understanding. I looked to her hands, where she always held Josh's, petrified heart. I sighed, a feeling of guilt passing over me. I forgot about her and Josh. I realized I was too concerned with preparing for the threat south of us. Josh wasn't going to last forever, "I'm sorry."

"Have you even started looking?" Rose asked. I shook my head. A few tears dropped from her face before she stormed out of the room. Snow looked at me with an expression of disgust, then went to chase after Rose. I sighed again, the feeling of guilt not leaving my body. However, I had come to realize something. I couldn't quite grasp how Rose felt about Josh. I get the feeling of being concerned over a friend, but she's taking this really hard.

"Maybe I should try to get something like that," I sighed as I picked up my cloak. As I exited the inn door, I heard a quiet, female voice call out.

"Um, excuse me!"